Educational device



United States Patent 2,797,511 EDUCATHONAL DEVICE Marjorie Zecher, Shrewsbury, Mass., assignor to Milton Bradley Company, Springfield, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application July 13, 1954, Serial No. 443,086 1 Claim. (CI. 4063) This invention relates to improvements in devices adapted for educational and other purposes.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a device which may be termed a board that is constructed and arranged to display a plurality of cards which are readily associated with and separable from the board.

The device is adapted for many and various uses but is particularly useful for educational purposes. As one example, the board may be arranged to simulate a calendar having cards indicating the dates and decorated cards in place thereof indicating events of historical significance. It will be possible to arrange the cards for any month and to employ cards of a decorative nature for the purpose of drawing attention to events of the past or to come about in the future. Otherwise, the device may be employed for such instructive or educational purpose as may be desired.

According to the novel features of the invention, upper and lower sheets, which may be of cardboard or the like are secured together in superposed relation. The upper board is provided with card receiving openings and cards have tabs receivable beneath portions of the sheet adjacent the openings and in openings of the lower sheet while the lower sheet i provided with push-out openings to facilitate removal of the cards from the board.

All of the above objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangements of parts thereof, as will fully appear by a perusal of the description below and by various specific features which will be hereinafter set forth.

To the above cited and other ends and with the foregoing and various other novel features and advantages and other objects of my invention as will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claims hereunto annexed and more fully described and referred to in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a device embodying the novel features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an inverted plan view of a portion of the device shown in Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the cards of the device.

Referring now to the drawings more in detail, the invention will be fully described.

The device 2 of the invention may be called a board and consists of upper and lower sheets 4 and 6 of relatively stiff material such as cardboard or the like.

The upper sheet 4 is provided with vertically spaced rows horizontally spaced card receiving openings 8 arranged so that there are vertical and horizontal sections 10 and 12 of the upper sheet between the said openings. Said openings 8 are preferably rectangular in shape.

The lower sheet 6 is provided with tab receiving openings 14 which are shown as being rectangular.

Said openings 14 are disposed beneath the jointure of the vertical and horizontal sections 10 and 12 of the upper sheet and have portions in register with the corners of the openings 8 of sheet 2.

Cards indicated by 20 are provided which have main bodies that are receivable in the openings 8 of the upper Patented July 2, 1957 ICC sheets. Tabs 22 extend outwardly from opposite side of the cards at upper and lower edges thereof. The said tabs are arranged in pairs at opposite sides of the cards so as to project from the corners thereof.

The bodies of the cards 20 are made to fit within the openings 8 of the upper sheet. The tabs 22 are inserted beneath the portions of the upper sheet adjacent the openings 8 and in the openings 14 of lower sheet 6. Thus the cards are readily and easily releasably secured in the structure.

The cards are as easily and readily removed by being pushed outwardly of sheet 4. For this purpose, push-out holes 26 are provided in sheet 6 which are disposed within the confines of said opening 8 of sheet 4. A finger or an implement may be inserted in the openings 26 against the cards to remove them from the board.

There may be an opening or openings such as 30 and a card or cards 32 or openings and cards of any desired shape or dimensions.

The cards according to the use of the device may carry information, decorative, ornamental or any material desired'and the openings and cards may be arranged in various ways and be of such dimensions and shapes as may be desired.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely as being illustrative and not as being restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoing description, and all modifications and variations as fall within the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appended claim are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

An educational device comprising in combination, a support including upper and lower secured together sheets, said upper sheet provided with vertically spaced rows of horizontally spaced rectangular card openings having corners and forming vertical and horizontal portions of said upper sheet between adjacent openings with portions thereof intersecting adjacent the adjacent corners of adjacent openings, said lower sheet having vertically spaced rows of horizontally spaced openings having tab receiving portions and forming vertical and horizontal portions of said lower sheet with portions thereof intersecting adjacent the adjacent openings, the intersecting portions of said lower sheet being disposed within the openings of said upper sheet and the tab portions of the openings of said lower sheet disposed within the openings of said upper sheet at the corners thereof provid- References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 143,878 Caterson Oct. 21, 1873 912,656 Engstrom Feb. 16, 1909 1,629,670 Malme May 24, 1927 2,258,705 Hill Oct. 14, 1941 2,477,470 Williams July 26, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS 278,533 Great Britain Oct. 13, 1927 

